“THE APOSTLE THAT JESUS LOVED” IS IDENTIFIED IN THE FOOLISH THE DA VINCE CODE Release of The Da Vinci Code, directed by Ron Howard, has been preceded by a lot of hype. The plot, which is based on Dan Brown’s silly best seller, has prompted the Vatican to protest far too loudly. Scribbling on Leonardo’s […]
GOVERNMENT CONTINGENCY PLANS ARE LACKING IN UNITED 93 United 93, directed by Paul Greengrass, was controversial even before its release for various reasons, especially the possibility that something inappropriate would disgrace those who died on 9/11. As is well known, four airplanes were hijacked on that day, but only United 93 failed to reach a
WAR CRIMINALS HIDE OUT IN INSIDE MAN Inside Man begins unremarkably as yet another cinematic glorification of clever gangsters. They enter Manhattan Trust Bank in New York, demanding that employees and patrons to strip and put on blue jumpsuits. After locking them up, they enter the vault containing safety deposit boxes. NYPD is quickly alerted,
THE LOBBYIST’S CRAFT IS EXPOSED IN THANK YOU FOR SMOKING Thank You for Smoking is based on the 1994 novel by Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley, which argues that government has gone too far in trying to restrain the lives of private citizens, who should make their own decisions whether to smoke or
Thank You for Smoking Read More »
MEMOIRS OF A GEISHA ORIENTALIZES ASIAN WOMEN Memoirs of a Geisha, directed by Rob Marshall, is the Cinderella story of an ordinary nine year old, Chiyo (played by Suzuka Ongo), who by chance runs into The Chairman (played by Ken Watanabe) in a marketplace and then spends the rest of her life with a longing
Memoirs of a Geisha Read More »
FATELESS SHOWS THE POWER OF MIND OVER MATTER IN A NAZI LABOR CAMP Fateless, directed by Lajos Koltai, is based on Nobel laureate Imre Kertész’s 1975 autobiographical novel Sorstalanság (the Hungarian title of the film) about a Hungarian Jewish boy, György Köves (played by Marcell Nagy) who at the age of fourteen is sent to
FINAL BALLOTING FOR BEST POLITICAL FILMS OF 2005 Many films were pre-nominated for Political Film Society awards for 2005. Since Political Film Society rules require the number of nominated films to be reduced to no more than five in each category, members voted in January to narrow the choices. Accordingly, the final ballot appears below:
Political Film Review #216 Read More »
THE FIRST COLLEGE BASKETBALL LINEUP ENTIRELY OF AFRICAN AMERICANS STARS IN GLORY ROAD Glory Road, directed by James Gartner, is well timed both for the holiday recognizing Martin Luther King, Jr., and the beginning of college basketball season. The movie is based on the 1979 book (by Robert A. Heinlein) and true story of a
Idiocracy, directed by Mike Judge, is a satirical treatment of the premise that earthlings in five hundred years will be more stupid in a self-regulating, dumbed-down society that has abandoned fundamental human rights. When the film begins, Joe Bowers (played by Luke Wilson) is recalled from his job in a military archive to participate in
Tristan & Isolde, directed by Political Film Society awardwinner Kevin Reynolds (for Rapa Nui), is not the German opera film that many filmviewers might expect but is nevertheless based on the Tristram and Isolde medieval romance written in 1185 by Thomas of Britain, which in 1210 was translated into German, the version on which Richard Wagner based his